Ahhh... Finally at the effects stage. Gonna start with the Percussion Strip.

Well that didn't friggen' work. Grr. Guess I'd better just EQ it in PC or something and save the Strip for later when I've got isolated drums. Seriously that only took the sound to craptown no matter what I did. Urf.

oof... I'm gonna have to try this again tomorrow. That was a comedy of errors. Apparently I can't even keep track of on/off buttons in the PC. I'd think I was disabling a module when I was disabling the whole PC then I'd think I was disabling the whole PC when I was only disabling a module. I know how it works but gosh darnit to poop I was getting tripped up. Doesn't help I'm new to compression and I'm used to a ten band graphic EQ. I know there's more than one EQ in Sonar but I gotta learn this knob/button fiddling in the PC. Man... I really feel like a dumbarse right now. :-/

@John... Yeah, I hear ya. It's all part of the learning process. Even though I've been trying to take it slow I have been forcing the learning curve a bit. I got plenty done today in regards to volume edits and setting up my track list in anticipation of this stage (despite a ridiculous amount of distractions). You know how it goes though. You want that nice little sonic payoff at the end of the day but it was getting late and I had probably overloaded my brain already. My intention kind of was to try out all the major effects one by one on the various tracks following the Power Book just to get a feel for them. Just got cocky and thought I could dive right in. Tomorrow will be better. :-)

@clint... Thanks for the suggestions. I think my main problem is being stuck with the stereo BFD tracks. I already applied a preset to them before exporting (this was just intended as a quick test and turned into an epic adventure in metal) so they're already processed and anything I do to them seems to just destroy everything so I have to rethink this a bit. Really I just want to add some low end beef to the kicks and toms and some high end sizzle to the snare cracks and cymbals. I know I can do this with some basic EQing but my brain just wasn't working well with the PC tonight. If it comes down to it I'll pull out the fancy multibands but I think this is a good chance to find my way around the PC stuff. The Percussion Strip was sounding good but it was introducing some nasty pops and digital distortion even with my latency settings cranked way up and keeping a close eye on the in/out levels (why are there no clip lights on those?!). I think the term is "artifacts". I managed to figure out how to get rid of it but it made the tracks sound worse and dropped the level significantly. I could go on but I'm just chalking this up to a learning experience. Tomorrow will be better. Stupid computer thinks it's smarter than me. I'll show it who's boss! ;-)

Right on, scook. I think these drum tracks are gonna be my chance to take a good hard look at all the effects like I've been meaning too... but yeah, I played with the Sonitus Eq a while back and IIRC it's a little more similar to what I'm used to. I'm shut down for the night though so I'll start fresh tomorrow. I think I was getting a little ahead of myself to be honest. I just kind of want to get this track in the bag so I can move on. It's really not even that interesting of a tune. Cheers.

You know you will get much better results from breaking out the drums (at least this project should reinforce that knowledge).
You might save this project away and use it for a drum replacement exercise at some later date.

I was given a stereo drum track recently for a song to mix. Decided to make the best of it and see how far I could take it. Kick was boomy so cloned the track and put a multiband on each (any will work - I used LP-64 Multiband). Then set a good crossover point for the thump of your kick, maybe around 150 ish. Now solo band 1 on the first track and mute band 1 on the second track. Now you have complete control. Not sure if this was what you were already doing as you didn't say (or I missed it), but just incase, there it is!

Then a gate on the kick was necessary to tighten it up on this sample. I also automated the release time to get more resonance in the verse, and a tighter sound on the chorus. Smashed it through the Tube Leveller too for a bit of smack then used the Antress Modern Pultec emulator eq to dial in some tighter low end kick. I don't know what that thing is doing but there is something in the low end that it does that I can't get any other compressor to do. I'm sure the real thing or decent UAD plugs are even better, but for FREE, the Antress is GREAT and I can't get that sound with anything else. I'd almost consider cutting the lows with a normal eq then boosting them back up again with the Pultec emulator just to get the sound it's that good!

Snare crack I could bring out a bit with the Transient Shaper. But be careful as too much will eat into the middle of your cymbals. To counteract that, but still add the punch, you might like to add a second parallel compressed track with NO shaper on it to fill in the breaks with more cymbal so that the transient shaper doesn't eat them all away. Combine to taste. You may get more snap this way, with a thicker sound 'inside' the drums. I might just try this myself on the track. Also a bit of ringing on the snare I didn't like, so a sweep with a high Q eq found it around 500 and then I cut that out to tighten the snare a bit more.


Anyway, that was my experience with doing my first mix of just a simple stereo drum track. Maybe there will be some ideas for you there, maybe not. But I hope you get something from it, Beep!


If you want to give that Antress Modern Pultec emulator (AKA Modern Black Dragon - half way down the page) a go - http://antress.blogspot.com.au/

Beepster, I don't have BFD Eco, so I can't speak from first hand knowledge.

BUT - if it's anything like it's big brother, I always have to attenuate the signals leaving BFD2 via the the mixer page by about 10dB otherwise they are too damned loud coming into Sonar.

And yes, as others have pointed out, you're going to get infinitely more flexibility if/when you break each kit piece out onto separate channels from BFD and then onto separate tracks in Sonar.

Beep, I take it you still have the MIDI for your drum track? So it wouldn't be a major thing to split them now? Is it just a time thing?

Ah, with you now. Well... you don't know till you try, and it's all part of the learning process. As others have suggested, you could, when you have time in the future, use the stereo audio file in a drum replacement exercise.

As for the leg, I've had my knee operation and it's "healing." Bloody painful still mind, and I'm dosed up to the gills with opiates, which sounds fun, but it ain't, not with all the side effects that comes with it lol

Started physio today, just as I was getting used to having a bit of a rest...

Thanks for asking :)

Cheers Beep, thanks. And you too, although it sounds like your pain is with you for life, hence the chronic reference, and I'm sorry to hear that.